I can’t recall a time I didn’t enjoy Disney animation. Even as a forty-plus adult, it is still a delectable treat to sit in the theater and escape into the wonderful world of Disney and Pixar. I remember going to see Wreck-It Ralph with my mom and daughter when it was first in theaters, and in light of the release of the sequel, Ralph Breaks the Internet, I anticipate seeing that one as well. Recently, I had the opportunity to interview one of the head animators on this project, Kira Lehtomaki, and would you believe she’s a native Washingtonian (Yay!!)? I am thrilled to highlight her on my site today!
(Pictured) Kira Lehtomaki. Photo by Alex Kang. ©2015 Disney. All Rights Reserved.
RH: What inspired you to pursue a career in animation?
KL: I saw Sleeping Beauty when I was three years old. I was mesmerized by that scene with Briar Rose in the forest, dancing and singing with the animals. By the time I was in kindergarten, I was telling everyone that I wanted to be a “drawer” for Disney when I grew up. The Little Mermaid sealed the deal. I longed to be part of that world!
What kind of training have you had to pursue this career?
I had a bit of a meandering path to the studio. I fell in love with hand-drawn animation, but when I was looking to go to college, CG animation had taken the industry by storm. My parents were always so supportive of my artistic dreams, but the world of art was not familiar — my dad is an electrical engineer and my mom is a chemist. Thankfully, my dad had a colleague at work whose nephew worked at Disney. I was in high school at the time, and sent him an email asking for advice about what to study and where to go to school. He advised me to keep drawing, but that I should consider learning the computer in anticipation that CG would become even more prevalent in the future. Pixar, Disney Animation’s sister studio, also had an online list of recommended schools, and the University of Washington in my hometown was at the top of the technical list.
So, I attended the University of Washington and majored in Computer Science. My senior year at UW, I participated in the “Animation Capstone” within the Computer Science department that gathered students from all different majors, teaching us the program, Maya, as well as the production pipeline, in an effort to have us create an animated short together. That experience was terrific and faithfully replicated what it’s like to work on production within a studio. After graduation, I still needed a lot of work on my animation skills, and so I signed up for the online program Animation Mentor, which was brand new at the time. I had amazing mentors during my time in the program, including Dean Wellins, who is a director here at Disney. They taught me so much, and the principles of animation were starting to click. I made a demo reel of my student work, and amazingly, Disney offered me an animation trainee position in their Talent Development Program. It was the first time they had done a large trainee program since the 1970’s! The timing couldn’t have been better. That was eleven magical years ago :o) And ironically, the guy I emailed in high school was Nathan Warner, who just happens to be the Head of Layout / Cinematography on Ralph Breaks the Internet. It’s a small world, after all!
How has technology revolutionized the art of animation?
The art of animation, especially at Disney, would not be what it is without technology, whether it be in more practical forms like the multi-plane camera or the latest tools and software we’re using for CG animation. We dream up things that are impossible every day and then let that inspire and challenge us to make it a reality. Finding elegant solutions to these technical challenges, in the form of algorithms or software, is just as creative as the art. Sometimes algorithms are so inspirational we personify them on screen ;o)
In the upcoming film Ralph Breaks the Internet, what was your most favorite scene to animate? What was the most challenging scene?
My favorite scene to animate has to be the Princess sequence. Of course, I didn’t personally animate the entire sequence, but I did get to do a few scenes highlighting my favorite Mermaid in her comfy clothes, and revisit my friend Rapunzel as she asks Vanellope about “a big strong man.” What an incredible gift it was for me to animate the very characters that inspired me to be an animator. On top of that, many of the original voice actresses came back to voice their iconic characters. We were so fortunate to have them come and meet with our animation team. They bring so much of themselves to their characters, and it was invaluable for us to be able to ask for their insights into what makes each princess unique and how they might relate to each other in this ensemble that we’ve never seen before. If that weren’t enough, we also had legendary animator Mark Henn, who was the original supervising animator for five of these princesses, join us through the entire journey giving notes and drawovers to help ensure we were authentic to who these characters are. It was overwhelmingly magical and challenging to take on that legacy. Normally, we have one or two princesses in a film as our main characters, and we pour all our efforts into them. On this movie, we had fifteen, including Vanellope! So it was definitely one of the most challenging endeavors.
But then again, there were so many sequences that were challenging. From an animation standpoint, the goodbye between Ralph and Vanellope was one of the most difficult. It has to be so subtle and perfectly timed to communicate the emotion and weight of the moment. One misplaced eye blink and you lose the audience. On a technical level, the sequence with Ralphzilla comes to mind. Millions of regular-sized Ralphs climbing over each to form one giant insecure Ralph was mind-boggling. How would we manage all those Ralphs, and not have them just crash into each other? How would we clearly see the expression on his face with the surface of his skin constantly moving and shifting? We wouldn’t have any color change to indicate important elements of expression, like eyebrows, or even eyeballs! Add to that, our “real” Ralph would be standing on this moving surface of Ralphs and battling him with a giant pin. Animation is always a team sport, but for this sequence especially, the collaboration and back and forth between animation and departments like Layout, Crowds, Effects and Lighting was crucial.
How long did this entire film take to complete and what were your specific responsibilities along the way?
I believe our directors, Rich Moore and Phil Johnston, began working on the idea right after completing the original Wreck-It Ralph six years ago! They both took a little “break” though, to work on Zootopia. I was on the movie for about two and a half years. It was my first time serving in the role of Head of Animation. Thankfully, I didn’t have to do it alone. Renato dos Anjos, who was the Head of Animation on the first Wreck-It Ralph, was the other Head of Animation on the project, and I am so grateful to him for asking me to join him on the sequel. Together we helped oversee the animation on the entire film. We had five animation supervisors, Justin Sklar, Dave Hardin, Jason Figliozzi, Bobby Huth, and Daniel Klug, who each helped oversee specific characters and sequences, as well as a team of about seventy animators.
As Heads of Animation, we are fortunate to be on the project before animation production begins. This time is meant to explore animation styles and work with story and visual development artists to figure out who these characters are and how they move. Both Renato and I, as well as our animation supervisors, also collaborate with the character team — modelers, riggers, and simulation artists to build these characters in CG from their original hand-drawn designs and get them ready for the animators to animate. Once sequences go into production, we work with the animators. We have the most talented animators in the world, and yet we still frame by frame each of their shots, trying to find things to improve, and help ensure every frame achieves the directors’ vision for the acting. We also try to find time to personally animate some scenes.
In addition to Ralph, are there any other upcoming projects with which you are involved that you can mention?
I followed Anna and Elsa out of the internet, and just last week, showed the rough animation pass for my first scene on Frozen 2. When a movie wraps, we sort of say goodbye to these characters, and it’s bittersweet. So, it’s been a real joy to revisit them in Ralph Breaks the Internet, and now Frozen 2.
What an amazing woman Kira is! I am grateful she shared so much information about the whole animation process (I honestly knew nothing about all this!), and it gives me nothing but more respect for animators like her. I am grateful that Disney has kept her as an integral part of their studios, and I cannot even tell you how excited I am to see Ralph Breaks the Internet in addition to Frozen 2 (I’m literally trying not to scream in anticipation right now!). I hope that everyone checks out Kira’s other works, and why not have an outing at the theater this Thanksgiving weekend by attending a showing of Ralph Breaks the Internet? The thrill of being able to share the story of an animator, a woman, and a fellow native Washingtonian is something I have never had the opportunity to do, at least in one interview. And I simply could not be more elated for Kira and all of her accomplishments! It boggles the mind to think what the future holds for her!
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